“The prophet and the martyr do not see the hooting throng. Their eyes are fixed on the eternities.” – Benjamin Cardozo

As we embark on this journey to understand the prophetic anointing and reveal the heart of God concerning His sons and daughters, I feel that it is appropriate that we commence with a prayer that I feel should be at the core of every Prophet, prophetic minister, or someone desiring to understand the prophetic anointing. Before I unveil the prayer I feel it is necessary that we understand the motive for the prayer. It is not a prayer to get God to bless us, or give to us things. It is a prayer with one single focus and that is that He will reveal Himself to us. He is the center of all that we do and our heart must be to encounter His presence in order to reveal His purposes. The Lord is not hidden from those who search for Him and He is always faithful and ready to disclose His truths. With these things in mind, I want to begin with what I call the Prophet’s prayer. You may want to say this aloud or even memorize it.

 Father God, I am here as Your servant, Your friend, and Your son/daughter. I come before You humbly and yet boldly asking You to reveal Yourself to me. I desire to be a mouthpiece for You and I long to see the moments when Your glory is revealed and Your presence released. Give me the eyes to see what You see. Give me Your perspective. Help me to see with the eyes of compassion. Teach me to hear Your voice. May it sound like thunder so I won’t mistake its power but let it be sweet like honey so I can receive it with gladness. Help me to only convey what You give me. Purify my heart and cleanse my mind. Make me Holy for you are Holy. Help me to be sensitive to You Holy Spirit and give me the courage to open my mouth. In this time and at this place and at this very moment use me as a vessel for Your honor. Release the prophetic anointing in me. Expose Your heart to me. Reveal through me Your purposes and plans. Use me to encourage, strengthen, and comfort Your people. Lord Jesus I acknowledge that Your testimony is the Spirit of prophecy. May everything I say and do escort people back to You. Validate Your presence and confirm me as Your servant. I pray that You will receive all Glory, all Honor, and all Praise. I Love You! In Jesus name. Amen!

 Eternity is something that has been wrongly equated as futuristic. When people think of eternity they think of heaven and/or hell. It seems so distant until there is a tragedy such as a loss of life or some other circumstance that makes a person think of the future. I submit that eternity is neither futuristic nor ancient. Eternity has always been and will always be. Yes there is an eternal place that every soul will find itself in one day; however, I believe that the prophetic anointing does not simply allow us to look into the future and predict an outcome. The prophetic allows us to look into the eternities and see from a divine perspective the thoughts and intents of the Lord concerning a matter. Jesus showed us eternity and many of us miss it because of the future. He said in Matthew 5:17 to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, which means it is near or here. What Jesus was saying is that with Him He has brought a kingdom so close to us that we can touch it. It is almost tangible. It is a dimension where we can experience the kingdom NOW! Jesus walked on the earth as a man, but although He became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14) , He has always been. Jesus is not limited by time or space. John 1:1 begins by saying: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.’ Before time began, Jesus was. Before He walked on this earth for thirty-three and a half years He was sitting somewhere beyond time and space. That place is called eternity. The prophetic can not operate from a fleshly carnal viewpoint. It must be birthed in the realm of His kingdom, so that when we see eternity we can invade the realm of earth from the perspective of heaven.

 Let me give a personal example. I grew up in a Spirit-filled church where giftings and prophetic utterances were very excepted. My father being the Pastor would invite many prophets to come and minister at the church. All of my life I have been around prophets. I tell you this to inform you that I never wanted the mantle of a prophet based on what I considered the responsibilities and the personality requirements to be a prophet. Eventually I took over as Pastor of the church I grew up in. I was pretty happy being a Pastor. The call had been confirmed by other respected men of God. My church had begun to grow. One day a man came to the church and he said something over my wife, Michele, and I that I did not receive as from the Lord until later. I want to quote this so as to get the entire meaning. This prophecy was given on May 26^th 2002 by Dr. Prega Gounden.

 “Father I thank you for this couple. Thank you that as a little young man you called him into the ministry. Like you said to Jeremiah, before you were even born, you knew him. And you called him to be a prophet to the nations. Even though you are the Pastor of this church, there’s a prophetical mantle over your life. And you’ll flow into the prophetical at times that’s beyond your own understanding, because God has anointed you with the prophetical. So I place my hands upon both of you, side by side, together with one another; you declaring things and your wife will confirm it. She’ll be your partner and spouse, that will be confirming everything that you will be declaring, over individuals, over nations, over situations and circumstances. And the enemy would try everything in his best to come against both of you to bring about a division so that you’ll not walk in unity. But today I break down those powers of darkness in the name of Jesus, that you’ll stand side by side together with one another, walking in harmony and unity, breaking down the forces of darkness and every negative thing that has been spoken over your lives, I cancel it in the name of Jesus tonight, and I impart Lord an anointing over this couple that will break the yoke of bondage in the lives of others, and so I bless them tonight in Jesus’ name. Amen”

 The purpose of this is to show how a person can be at the center of the will of God and still miss their destiny. When I was given this word, I remember thinking that it was a good word, but not for me. After all, I was called to be a Pastor. Yes, for that moment in time I was, but what the Lord allowed this man to do was to see into the realm of eternity and release it into reality. I did not want to be a prophet to the nations, but the Lord knows my end from my beginning. The truth is that what the Lord revealed to this man I could not yet grasp. My heart was set on being a Pastor for the rest of my life. But what this word did was release heaven into earth and it impacted the world around me. I am still more comfortable being called Pastor but I know that the prophetic mantle is upon my life. Allow the Lord to use you to be an instrument of change. This man came from India and although I did not believe his word then, I now know that it was true because every word of it is still coming to pass in my life.